The Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), together with the Police Center for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, detained a 49-year-old man for labor exploitation in Moldova of five people from Uzbekistan in February-April 2022. According to the PCCOCS, the victims are four men aged between 30 and 40 and a 45-year-old woman.

PCCOCS officials note that the five people were recruited through the suspect’s communication with them on the Internet, which he learned from third parties in the Criuleni district that they were looking for job offers. He then promised them well-paid job offers, with payment of air travel tickets from the employer’s account. The company was engaged in agricultural activity as well as manufacturing some metallurgical products, and the suspect is one of its decision-makers.

“However, out of the two promises, the second one was fulfilled, only in the first phase of the collaboration – the trip was paid from the employer’s account, but later he asked them to work on account of the travel expenses, and for this purpose he deceitfully dispossessed them of the travel passports.

More specifically, he had previously taken their passports under the false pretext that he was going to legalize their work in Moldova by registering their stay with the competent authorities. And when they refused to work and decided to leave, the employer demanded 4,000-7,000 lei from each of them, depending on the amount of work they had done, thus calculating the balance of the invented debt,” PCCOCS reports.

The work performed by the victims was in the field of agriculture, as well as the manufacture of metallurgical products – without proper equipment and in violation of all protective measures. The accommodation was provided in inadequate conditions in the company premises and they received food on account of the promised salary, the law enforcement officers added.

As a result of this illegal treatment, in the summer of this year, a witness referred the matter to the National Investigation Inspectorate’s Centre for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, which opened a criminal case under the direction of PCCOCS prosecutors.

“Law enforcement officers raided the suspect’s home and car in Chisinau municipality, as well as the enterprise in Criuleni district, where they identified the miserable living and working conditions of the victims, as well as hidden luggage belonging to other victims (foreign citizens), who are currently unidentified. Subsequently, the victims received the services of a placement centre, where they were given psychological and medical legal assistance,” PCCOCS announced.

Following the suspect’s arrest, PCCOCS prosecutors presented him with the charge and requested that he be remanded in custody for 30 days. Investigations are continuing in order to establish the accomplices of the crime under investigation, and until a final court decision is handed down, those concerned are presumed innocent, according to the law.